


Jehan's Gift

by scarletopinions



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, also i'm not telling you who the four people spying on bahorel were you can pick, bahorel has a bit of of a bossuet moment but is courfeyrac cool about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-05 23:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletopinions/pseuds/scarletopinions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas is just a regular day for Jehan. That is, until someone shows up at the library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jehan's Gift

**Author's Note:**

> For Fox @foxjolras on twitter!  
> Merry Christmas!!

A winter morning’s daylight streamed through thin curtains and blinded Jehan’s eyes as they opened after a cold night’s rest. He groaned as he realised he’d awoke, shivering between the sheets.  
 _A few more minutes? Please?_  
But his eyes would not permit; the blanket of snow covering the ground outside seemed to make the sun brighter on days like that, and the lids of Jehan’s eyes could not hinder the glow. He pulled the thin fabric up to his bare shoulders, trying and failing to trap any body heat against him. Jehan stared at the empty space in the bed next to him for a few minutes then slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, contemplating the day ahead.  
It was Christmas Day, yet it would be nothing special, nothing out of his routine, simply because he had no one to celebrate with. Jehan had family, of course – a mother and a sister - but he’d moved far away a long time ago. They’d sent each other gifts, and he’d call them later, but there would be no big family gathering like most households tended to do. He preferred to keep on his own, and holidays were no different. It just wasn’t a big deal.  
He kicked the rest of the blanket off and grabbed the nearest jumper from the floor before combing through his tangled auburn hair. He would leave it down today, he thought, most people would be at home with their families, and it wasn’t as if there was anyone he wanted to impress anyway.  
After a quick breakfast of a mince pie, (it was Christmas after all; he had to give himself a few treats) he slung a purple scarf around his neck, picked up his bag, and left for work.

The local library was normally closed on Christmas, but due to Jehan’s insisting that he had nothing else to do and that he’d take the whole day’s shift, the owner had agreed to keep it open. When he arrived he pulled out his key and unlocked the door, relaxing as he walked into a wall of warm air.  
He didn’t imagine it would be a very busy day, so he’d taken along a few books to keep him company as he whiled away the hours in the small room. It wasn’t a very big library, but it was the closest one, and his frequent visits had gained him a real friendship with the elderly woman who owned it. When he needed work, naturally he’d asked to take some shifts there.  
Sitting down behind the counter, Jehan checked the time.  
10:05. He’d close up at 3:00, which would give him five hours relatively alone with his thoughts. He would have been alone in his apartment as well, but he preferred the atmosphere in the old building; the wooden shelves climbing up the wallls to touch the high ceiling, with small stacks of books on the floor like hills next to mountains. A landscape of paper and leather. The scent awoke memories within him; memories of words swimming before his eyes as he drifted into the stories and lives of so many people. The words were what he lived for. They could make you laugh or cry; they could fill you with anger, or leave you pondering for hours. They fascinated his young mind, and he wanted every experience from them as possible. He also loved to write them himself, but his poetry was very personal to him, and the only place he ever made it public was anonymously online. His notebook never left his apartment.

As expected, the library was empty for most of the day. A young girl in a blue coat far too large for her was his first customer of the day. She wandered in when Jehan was eating his lunch, her cheeks still bright red from the cold, and asked if she could borrow a book about flowers. Jehan knew exactly where to look, and picked one out in no time. They looked through it together, trying to find the right flowers to grow for her mother, who Jehan found out had become sick. The girl didn’t have much money, but she wanted to give her mother lots of presents while she was ill, so she thought growing her a garden and bringing her flowers from it was a good idea. Jehan of course agreed that it was excellent, as winter flowers were always the prettiest, and he added that it was very thoughtful of her. She left smiling and skipped out into the snow, hugging the bookmarked and sticky-note-annotated volume close to her chest.

The only other person to enter the library that day did so about an hour before closing time.  
A tall, muscly man in his twenties with dark skin and even darker, undercut hair pushed open the door and began to make his way towards one of the back shelves. He was dressed in a red and white Christmas jumper underneath a leather jacket, with tattoos just peeking out from under the sleeves, Surprisingly, the glasses on the bridge of his nose didn’t take away from his tough-guy kind of look, but the warmth of the library after the cold outside made them steam up immediately. When he turned his head to give a nod of greeting to Jehan, the combination of the foggy glasses and not looking where he was going caused him to miss the small step half way across the room. A pile of books were sent crashing as he tripped, catching himself on his other foot before his large frame could hit the the floor.  
Jehan jumped out of his seat immediately and nipped around the counter to help clear up the mess. “Are you okay?” he asked, a little bit flustered at the sudden commotion after long hours of quiet.  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright thanks” chuckled the other man, taking off his glasses, “I guess I should probably stop to clean these next time that happens.” He might have been blushing, but his cheeks were red from the cold outside anyway, so Jehan couldn’t tell.  
Jehan laughed in return and the stranger smiled as they bent down to pick up the books.  
“I’m Bahorel by the way,” said the tall man as he wiped his glasses on his jumper and returned them to their usual home.  
“Oh yeah, I’m Jehan,” the other replied. He picked up the last book and they both stood up, nearly crashing heads as they did. There was a short moment of silence, made even more awkward by the obvious height difference; Bahorel was a good head taller than Jehan, if not a bit more.  
“Um, did you need a book?” Jehan finally stammered, avoiding eye contact. He knew he was turning red; even though he wasn’t the one who’d fallen over, the easygoing, friendly nature of the attractive young man was giving him butterflies.  
“Oh, yeah! I didn’t come all the way to a library on Christmas Day just to fall over in front of a cute boy despite my first impression”  
That made Jehan blush. A _lot_.  
 _Did he just call me cute? Oh stop, he probably just likes to flirt_.  
Maybe he did, but it damn well worked. Jehan was utterly taken with the stranger. After Bahorel had found his book and waved a cheery goodbye, he was all Jehan could think about for the rest of the evening. When he’d closed up the library, he headed home and soon found himself fidgeting restlessly, something Jehan wasn’t usually prone to.  
He decided to take a walk, and maybe find a coffee shop or bar to pass some time in.  
He strolled his normal route to work, but then carried on past the library, knowing full well that was the way Bahorel had turned after leaving earlier that afternoon, but pretending he wasn’t on the look out for some sign of the curious young man.  
Eventually he noticed a café that looked inviting, and wandered in. Café Musain, it was called, and Jehan relaxed in its warm glow as he seated himself in a corner booth.

Half an hour passed. Jehan sipped the latte he’d ordered and after a while his thoughts drifted from Bahorel to more practical ideas such as what he’d make for dinner. This place seemed nice enough, but in his mind there was nothing more sorrowful than eating out alone on a holiday. He’d spare himself the embarrassment.  
At that moment his thoughts were interrupted by someone suddenly dropping into the seat across from him. He looked up with a start as a familiar voice turned his cheeks red for what felt like at least the tenth time that day.  
“Well hey there! Fancy seeing you here!” Bahorel grinned as Jehan recognised him and smiled back, much to his relief. “Well I guess that’s my good luck then. I’ve been thinking all day about how I made such a terrible impression on you earlier, what with my dramatic fall and everything.” Jehan laughed the reserved, nervous, but genuine giggle he owned, and as Bahorel spoke, he noticed that he gestured widly when he was talking, and blushed even more when the booming yet friendly voice reached a volume that surely everyone else in the café could hear.“You see, I was hoping that if I found you, we could pretend that never happened and I can smooth talk you into having dinner with me? I promise I won’t knock anything over.”  
The penultimate sentence took Jehan by great surprise, and the shock was obviously plastered all over his face as Bahorel was quick to add, “Oh, I mean you don’t have to of course. Jeez what am I thinking? It’s Christmas, you’ve probably got plans. Or a partner... Oh boy you look like you’re waiting for a date right now. Christ I’m not usually this awkward I swear, what the hell’s gotten into me today?” He laughed as he leaned back, but quieter this time; he seemed almost nervous.  
“Oh, no, I… um, I’m just out for a drink, I’m not with anyone. Uh.. did you just… ask me out? I don’t have plans; Christmas is just a regular day for me I guess. So.. yeah, I’d like to go out. No smooth talking required, although it’s definitely a bonus if you want to.” As Jehan spoke he slowly regained his composure. Loss for words was surprisingly a common occurrence for him, despite his skill with language.  
“Really? Great! I would say we could eat here but my friends are in the other corner spying on me.” Jehan looked to where he pointed and saw four people watching them, two of whom were in fits of giggles and the others were smirking mercilessly. He blushed again and looked back to Bahorel, who was smiling.  
“Sorry about them. I’ll introduce you another day, they can be a bit full on sometimes. Hey, I know a good place not far from here, shall we head there now?”  
“Sure!” Jehan replied with a smile.  
The four spies at the other table had beams smacked all over their faces as Bahorel led Jehan back out into the cold. When everyone was introduced the next day, (yes, the very next day) it was safe to say they were all satisfied with their gift that year: new friendship.


End file.
